For vegan fare, try the new Kate’s Café in Mystic

I’m always excited when I get to try a restaurant for the first time, especially when it’s a type of food you don’t see everyday.

I had that feeling yesterday when I got lunch at the new Kate’s Café in Mystic. It opened in August and is located at 27 Broadway in the complex next to the CVS at the rotary.

Kate’s Café is a small place. When you go in, you can order take out or sit at one of the tables to be served. The menu offerings—they serve breakfast and lunch—are diverse, and they include some innovative and nutritious items.

There’s a tofu scramble wrap, French toast, waffles and other options for breakfast. For lunch, you can try a soup of the day, salads, like black bean quinoa or soba noodle, wraps, burgers and sandwiches.

I was in the mood for soup and had decided I’d go with whatever they had. I’d never tried Russian borscht beet ($3.95 for cup, $4.95 for a bowl), the soup of the day, but I was mighty glad I ordered it when it came. It’s a puree style soup with beets, cabbage and seasonings. It’s hard to describe, really. It had the taste of beet but a savory taste that reminded me of butternut squash soup. It’s a must try if it’s on the menu when you’re there.

For my main meal, I got the seitan sliders ($9.95). This meal consisted of little seitan burgers on what appeared to be whole grain buns that looked almost like English muffins. It was topped with a savory sauce and caramelized onions, and there was a side of spring mix and tomatoes to put on top. Excellent.

The sliders came with a side of sweet potato and regular potato fries cooked with red onion.

I took a curried chickpea wrap ($7.95) in a to-go container for later. When I cracked into it that night, the wrap had that health food curry taste that frequenters to natural foods places would be familiar with. It was moist and tasty. The chickpeas were fresh. Sometimes a chickpea can have that bean water taste to it. That was not the case with this wrap.

When I left Kate’s Café, I felt full but refreshed, and like I had just done something good for my taste buds and my health. So I quickly squashed that feeling by going through a drive-thru for a McFlurry…just kidding.

In all seriousness, I think Kate’s is a place that vegans and non-vegans alike would enjoy. The food is nutritious and thoughtfully prepared, but also delicious. Taste is not sacrificed here, and I think eaters of all stripes will appreciate that.